'Tis the day before Christmas and Santa is cruisin', some will get candy and others a bruisin'.

But enough of this rhyme business. Let's check out what's under the tree:

Wi-Fi wrap-up: The elves in San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's workshop are racing to beat their end-of-the-year deadline to announce the city's plan for "free" wireless Internet service.

Negotiations between the city and its selected partners, Google and EarthLink, have dragged on for eight months.

The key sticking point: what exactly will be free and what Google and EarthLink will be allowed to charge customers for upgraded service.

"I wouldn't say we are black and blue (from the talks), but this is a big, complicated deal," San Francisco telecommunications chief Chris Vein told us.

Maybe, but the mayor is also chomping to deliver on his free Wi-Fi pledge before he starts his re-election campaign. And with Santa still smarting from the 49ers' announcement that they're looking to decamp to Santa Clara, the last thing the elves want is another instance of City Hall failing to get a deal done.

Speaking of stadiums: The 49ers are already circulating elements of the plan for the stadium they want to build in Santa Clara, but the big unanswered question is how much "gift giving" the small city will have to do to make the $600 million to $800 million deal fly.

A quasi-public sports authority would give the Niners tax advantages and allow for quicker construction by eliminating competitive bidding requirements on contracts.

It also could give the city less control over a deal that could have financial risks for the community.

And as much as the team contends that the deal will have no impact on the city's general fund, Assistant City Manager Ron Garratt says that "different people might have different ideas what that means."

Leno called the Napoleon of North Beach to get his opinion on running against Migden.

Peskin's response: Don't.

And if you do, Peskin warned, watch out -- because I might jump into the race as well and pull votes away from you.

Seems Peskin feels that Leno taking on a fellow Democrat upsets the natural order of things.

How's that for a ho-ho-ho?

Meanwhile, across the bay: Mayor-elect Ron Dellums just got handed his first defeat at the Oakland City Council when -- despite his personal efforts -- the group approved outgoing Mayor Jerry Brown's final appointments to the city's Planning and Port commissions.

Dellums had called Brown and asked him to hold off on the appointments until he took over next month. Brown declined, saying the spirit of the City Charter mandated that he -- not the new mayor -- make the picks.

Team Dellums responded with a full-court press, with local labor leaders and community activists lobbying hard to have the council nix Brown's picks.

The vote appears to be both a declaration of independence by the council and a pretty good indicator of what might lie ahead for the new mayor.

And speaking of what might be ahead, Camp Dellums is already floating the idea around City Hall that the mayoral salary of $120,000 a year needs to be raised to, say, $150,000.

We called the Dellums transition team for a response. They said they'd get back.

We're still waiting.

Belated gift: Oakland City Council members were none too happy to read in this column that the police fingerprint lab has been shut down for seven months for lack of staff -- especially when they approved the funds for the needed techs way back in the summer of 2005.

"You could say we were both very concerned and very annoyed," said City Councilwoman Jane Brunner.

And with good reason, considering Oakland's crime rate.

So what is taking so long for the bureaucratic elves to get the lab techs online?

Part of the hiring hang-up was over whether to classify the job as "latent print analyst" or "criminalist."

Believe it or not, the debate lasted more than a year -- with "latent print analyst" finally emerging as the winner.

Next came the salary survey and writing up the job description.

Then the job had to be cleared with two city unions, which took another month.

But the commission didn't meet for lack of a quorum in either November or December.

So there it sits.

Even if the commission finally meets next month and gives the OK, the city must still test, interview and do background checks on the applicants. So they won't have anybody hired until next summer at the earliest.

And this is a "priority."

Stocking stuffer: Mayor Newsom is planning to ring in the New Year with a $500-a-head fundraiser the night of Dec. 31.

The idea is to reach his goal of reporting $500,000 in the bank by year's end.

"Just a show of strength," says Newsom campaign manager Eric Jaye. "It sends a message to people that Newsom is getting the band back together."

And finally: The other day we told you about San Francisco's official Santa suit looking so threadbare it had to be replaced in time for St. Nick's big visit to the Golden Gate Park holiday celebration.

However, Susan Linneman, the city's official, $36,227-a-year "sewing technician" (she works 20 hours a week), took healthy exception to the Recreation and Park Department's calling the suit "tattered."

There was nothing wrong with the old suit, she said. According to her, this year's Santa happened to be especially tall and "we didn't want a bunch of bare leg hanging out."

Hence, a new suit.

Linneman says she's never short of work. In addition to a collection of Santa suits, she's in charge of washing and ironing 352 Christmas caroler gowns, Halloween costumes and scores of costumes used by a couple of city-sponsored theater programs. She has six boxes full of costumes awaiting repair.

"It's not all glamour," Linneman said, but then added, "I never met a sequin I didn't like."